


Just Like June

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Episode: s03e12 The Two Bartlets, F/M, Missing Scene, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-03-29
Updated: 2005-03-29
Packaged: 2019-05-30 10:37:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15094952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: CJ and Sam take some time for themselves.





	Just Like June

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

**Just Like June**

**by:** Kansas J. Miller

**Character(s):** CJ, Sam  
**Pairing(s):** CJ/Sam  
**Category(s):** Romance, Missing Scene  
**Rating:** TEEN  
**Disclaimer:**  
**Summary:** CJ and Sam take some time for themselves.  


It was much too cold to be on the beach, but the suggestion had been so lovely. It really was beautiful where they sat, though CJ knew it would be nicer without the jeans, sweatshirt and socks. The day was calm with nothing remotely like a breeze passing through, yet the air was crisp and cool as she sat companionably with Sam on the sand. 

It was Tuesday. Tuesday was always a lousy day, lingering somewhere between the beginning of the week and the middle. As well, it was usually the busiest day of CJ's week, spent entirely on waiting, planning, and preparing for the coming days. 

This Tuesday CJ had expected to be even busier - it was the day after the Iowa Caucus. However, the President wasn't seeing anyone and Toby was absolutely no where to be found. 

There was a United Nations address that needed to be finished, and Sam was more than a bit irritated at his boss's conspicuous absence. After much banging around in his office, Sam had appeared at CJ's office door, smiling with his idea. 

And four hours later they were lying on the sand at Rehobeth Beach. They'd made their Delaware jokes and laughed a bit, but it was closer than Virginia Beach, and Sam was just happy to have escaped. And they really had escaped, without their pagers, cell phones, or so much as a word to Leo. Now the air was growing even cooler and as CJ nestled her head down on Sam's shoulder, she wondered why they felt the need to escape. 

*** 

There was minimal attention being paid to Sam and CJ's relationship, and it was their heaviest sigh of relief. The press either hadn't figured it out or hadn't cared enough upon learning; still not a word. Toby continued to eye his deputy strangely when it came to CJ; yet he was too consumed by whatever plagued his mind to properly respond. And Josh was busy with himself, revolving his life around Amy and whatever newness he'd found in her. 

Someday, when things got quiet, people would ask them how it had started. CJ knew this as she threaded her fingers through Sam's; he'd been running them through the sand, and now tiny million grains were coating his hand. She didn't care, and pulled it close before going back to her muse. 

It smelled like seawater and coming rain, and as seagulls swooped down and around, CJ decided that work would never get quiet. She'd been waiting ages for silence and balance, but life was complicated. Before something had the chance to settle, another explosion was mixing up the tumultuous and volatile space in which they all lived and worked. 

They'd been foolish to think that anyone would pay attention to their affair. In the grand scheme of things - and it was certainly a very grand scheme - it would never matter if CJ Cregg had once kissed Sam Seaborn behind the closed blinds of his darkened office. It didn't affect anyone else, and anyone else couldn't be expected to take interest. 

It was practically self-centered, CJ realized as she toyed with Sam's fingers, to expect anyone to protest against or defend their relationship, for anyone to even bother with it. It was theirs alone, and they were free to do as they pleased. 

"There's a whale out there," Sam commented lazily, squeezing CJ's hand. Indeed, there was a whale in the ocean, blowing high volumes of water from its head up into the sky. 

"Are there more than one?" CJ asked, squinting her eyes to see. It wasn't important, CJ quickly decided, just as the way she cared for Sam wasn't important to that whale. Sam shrugged and looked down at CJ, concerned that she looked so tired. 

"Did you talk to your Dad again?" Sam asked after a moment, recalling how internally distraught CJ had been the night before. 

CJ smiled now as she related to Sam the last conversation she'd had with him; it was hard for her to watch her own father slip slowly out of her grasp, but there were good days and there were bad days involved in every aspect of life. Today had been a good day - her father had understood, had known what was going on and CJ was, for the moment, placated. 

They let it grow dusky before untangling their bodies from the sandy calmness of the beach. They hadn't spoken much, but the companionable silence was more than CJ and Sam could have asked for on such a Tuesday. After another long look out at the vast expanse that was the ocean, they followed the sand back to the pavement. 

Sam pressed CJ up against his car in a moment of spontaneity and told her she was beautiful before softly plundering her mouth. It rushed through her body while her hands moved to his hair, and with the spray of the ocean a near reality, CJ imagined that it was summer; it was summer back when summer meant doing nothing at all. For an instant, CJ let go the fact that it was February, and reveled now, knowing that Sam could make it feel just like June. 

*** 

CJ crept down the hall towards her office, feeling like she was about to get caught. It was nearly nine o'clock and Sam wanted to stop back at the White House. As she sneaked into the bullpen, CJ was struck by the eerie calm and quiet. 

Carol was still sitting at her desk, and at the sound of CJ's sneakers on the hardwood floor, the dark haired assistant turned around with a smirky grin. 

"I take it you had some fun today?" she asked, insinuatingly holding out a manila folder. CJ took the folder and the comment with a friendly grin. "Get your mind outta the gutter. Are we in big trouble?" 

Carol was interested and followed CJ into the office where the press secretary was carefully appraising the looks of her desk, as though she expected a warning lurking on its surface. 

Carol was honest. "I don't even think anyone noticed that you and Sam were gone. Simon briefed at ten, and Bruno's people were in around noon. That was it. Nothing from Leo's office." 

At this, CJ spun around and raised her brow. It was highly noticeable for the Press Secretary not to brief, and still Leo hadn't said a word? CJ's intuit told her something fishy was happening, but it was beyond her at the moment. 

"Well wasn't that lucky for me," CJ said cockily, her head bobbing in amazement that they'd gotten away with their rendezvous. The drive home had been filled with laughter as she and Sam outlined the many ways in which the trip had been a bad move. 

Carol took a step closer to CJ and narrowed her eyes as she thought. "Seriously, what did you do today?" 

CJ tossed the folder down on her desk, the truth smiling in her eyes. Should she tell Carol? It had been really special, very sweet, going to the beach with Sam. But it was February, and Carol might laugh. 

"We didn't do anything," she responded weakly, biting her lip slowly. "Listen, as long as there aren't any emergencies, I'm outta here, okay? 

Carol nodded and stood back as CJ left, intrigued by her boss's secretive manner, her casual clothes, and the way the scent of the sea now filled the office. 

She joined them in the mess after CJ was out of the West Wing, having her usual decaf with the gossip of the day. Ginger, Bonnie, Donna and Margaret weren't gossipy for negative purposes-they just liked to dish with each other because it bore the semblance of friendship in the high-paced office. Carol usually said nothing at all - working for CJ had taught her to keep quiet no matter how casual things were, but tonight Carol knew the focus would be on her boss. 

The conversations rarely revolved around CJ because she was the only woman at the senior level; she represented women, "the sisterhood" as they kidded, and the five women who gathered for gossip held her in heavy respect. 

The nightly round robin was usually about Donna's quest for Josh, lately her disdain for Amy; sometimes they bitched about Toby's mood or Leo's workaholic habits, and usually someone brought up Sam and what it would be like to sleep with him. 

Tonight, as Carol tried to sit down inconspicuously, they four pairs of eyes turned inquisitively on her. 

"What?" she asked, trying to remain nonchalant as she sipped the coffee. It burned the back of Carol's throat, and unpleasantly she knew she'd have to talk about CJ. 

"Well? I couldn't get a word out of Sam," Ginger said, holding her arms out curiously. 

"CJ didn't say anything either?" Bonnie incredulously assumed. 

"She didn't say, but I think they went to the beach," Carol said conspiratorially, as she grinned and lowered her voice. Leaning into the table, Donna covered her mouth with her hand and shared struck glances with Margaret. 

"That is so incredibly sweet..." Donna crooned, wishing and wondering. 

"God, how did we miss this?" Margaret asked rhetorically. For five women with active imaginations and keen eyes, two weeks later they were all still appalled that they'd missed the signs of CJ and Sam's romance. 

"I'm not even sure Josh believes it yet," Donna said casually, taking a swig from a bottle of Snapple. Bonnie was moving her fork around a half-eaten piece of chocolate pie as she put in her piece. 

"Toby is totally shocked..." 

Ginger broke in with wide eyes, "...Said it's their right to do whatever they want, just so long as Sam doesn't hurt CJ." 

"Aww!" Donna said, a sucker for sap. "That's either friendship or jealousy speaking." 

Margaret laughed with her friends, "Agreed. Oh, and Leo - he has no idea. He barely knows if HE'S in a relationship!" 

Their laughter grew louder now, as CJ and Sam were so quiet, so new, that it was plausible that the White House Chief of Staff not know about it. It seemed even now that the West Wing assistants were the only ones talking. 

"Yeah, so CJ's the luckiest woman alive..." Ginger sighed, her slight crush on Sam no secret. Bonnie tapped her friend's elbow. 

"You'd better get over it now. Carol, you should try to get details for us," Bonnie suggested with a wicked gleam in her eyes. Carol snorted at this, rolling her eyes and grinning. 

"I can't imagine CJ jumping up to tell me details. I mean, we still have no idea how long this has been going on for," Carol pointed out. 

Donna bit her lip. "I wonder how they got together? You guys think it's just sex?" 

Carol shot Donna a glance hard enough to silence the inappropriate way this conversation was about to lead. It was enough that they discussed what Sam would be like in bed; it didn't seem quite fair to put CJ in that same less-than-respectable category. 

Donna was embarrassed and the conversation continued cautiously until it faded into other news, but as they later moved back into the West Wing, the question still lingered in the back of their minds. 


End file.
